


Salvage

by Hinganbachuru (Twilight_Joltik)



Series: Asamagica [3]
Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF), NormalBoots, PBG Hardcore
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Before Hana, F/F, F/M, Lotsa gay shit ™, M/M, Trauma Recovery, cause I mean have you ever seen a straight magical girl, didn’t think so, please someone help these poor beans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-03-27 15:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Joltik/pseuds/Hinganbachuru
Summary: After some completely awful occurrences, Caddy goes to stay with some relatives in Japan and go to school at the prestigious Asagao Academy to try and get a fresh start. What he ends up with is just more trouble.





	1. Grief

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so, like, I'm doing a multichapter (but probably not too long) fic set in mine and Tomate's Asamagica AU! Hopefully this will turn out well!

Using magic was a shot of adrenaline, surging through him and egging him on. He finally fell in control of things! Instead of being too scared to move, he made that monster cower in fear from those weird guns he’d summoned up to fight. He was finally doing something right!

 

Even still, it was somehow better with Connor there too. They’d been friends for so long that fighting together just felt natural. He was strong alone, sure, but with him he was unstoppable.

 

The beast dissolved into a puddle of blue goop as Caddy landed the final blow. The grin on his face was almost hurting he’d held it for so long. Connor ran up to him, smiling just as wildly. “That was amazing! You were amazing!”

 

“We were amazing,” Caddy corrected. “For your first time, that was pretty spectacular.”

 

Connor snickered a bit. “Please, I was flailing all over the place! You were the one who actually knew what you were doing.”

 

He fell heat crawling up the back of his neck. “Trust me, I’m not that good unless I’m trying to show off,” he assured his friend. “And I wanted to-”

 

A sudden burst of light out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to where the beast had been to find the puddle rising back into a pulsing, dripping shadow. He felt sick just looking at it; it was just wrong!

 

“Looks like we’re not done yet,” Connor muttered, looking at it with as much disgusted discomfort as it warranted. “Do they usually do this?”

 

Caddy shook his head. He’d slain a fair few monsters so far, but he’d never seen one pop back up after falling like this. It was lurching towards them, popping and bubbling like it was starting to boil. “Stand back,” he ordered. “I can take care of this.”

 

Unsurprisingly, Connor did exactly the opposite and rushed ahead with him, trying to rip into the beast with the same dark energy power he’d been using so well before. Caddy sighed and tried to shoot into it as well. But, nothing they did even seemed to phase it. It just churned and slowly made its way towards them. Towards Connor.

 

Heart pounding, Caddy found himself jumping between his friend and the monster. He wasn’t totally aware of what he was doing, just that his body felt like it was burning and he was running at it. He could barely see for the sudden bright light all around him, and couldn’t hear over the pounding of his heart.

 

Next thing he knew, the pile of goop had completely vanished and Connor was looking at him with abject horror written all over his face. “Wh-what the hell was that?”, his friend asked him, shakily taking a step back towards him.

 

Caddy looked down at his hands. His head was pounding so much that black spots danced in front of him, but he couldn’t see anything out of place on himself. “I don’t know,” he admitted to Connor, looking back up at him. “I just saw it was about to hurt you and I tried to jump between you and it and then I don’t know what happened.”

 

“Well, I can believe that,” Connor conceded with a nod. He came a bit closer to Caddy, face returning to a smile. “You sort of just-”

 

He was cut off by his own strangled gasp. Connor stumbled backwards, odd purple hands starting to claw their way up his body, forming from a gaping hole in the air behind him. Caddy froze as they pulled Connor further into the hole, one reaching to cover his mouth as he tried to cry out.

 

The hole began to close. Still shaking with fear, Caddy tried to dive into it too, but Connor kicked him back, weakly shaking his head. The last thing he could see of him was this eyes filling with tears.

 

And, as soon as it appeared, the hole was gone. It had closed up completely, leaving no trace of itself or Connor, as if neither was there in the first place. Caddy was still entirely stunned, reeling from whatever the hell had just gone down. He couldn’t process any of it, it couldn’t be real! 

 

But as he stared at the empty air, dropping to his knees and eyes starting to burn, the truth hit him like a bullet through the heart. 

 

Connor was gone.

 

/././././././.

 

Days passed. Caddy was questioned countless times, by police and Connor’s family alike, but what could he tell anyone? That he’d been eaten by a hole that had appeared out of thin air? He had to change the details, say that they’d been hanging out and he’d looked away for a moment to find Connor had just suddenly vanished. 

 

Only one person other than him knew the whole story: Rosie. Caddy had been telling his little sister about all the magic stuff he’d been getting up to, so she figured out pretty quickly that had to have been part of the story. He’d barely even been able to get the whole story out anyways. Whatever happened, he couldn’t help but blame himself. He’d been the one who wanted them to be partners, he’d been right there and not able to save him, and maybe even whatever had happened to him right before that had something to do with it.

 

Through his grief, he tried to reassume a regular life. The world made it damn near impossible, though. For one, the whole school was talking about that weird kid who’d suddenly disappeared. People said the most terrible things about him, making Caddy want to punch half the school in the face. Connor was a lovely person, why were they saying that he “probably had it coming”? What had he ever done to them?

 

Caddy eventually just refused to go to school all together. He’d starting spending most of the day crying in the bathroom anyways, so it wasn’t much of a loss for his education. His parents were worried sick, as was Rosie, but they understood. He’d lost his best friend, and by then it’d been long enough without any signs of him showing up his family had pretty much given up entirely. For all intents and purposes, he was dead.

 

The only clue he had as to what might have happened to him was asking other magical girls. There were chatrooms for them on some odd corners of the internet, but none of them seemed to have any clue what he was talking about. All they could give him was their condolences, and condolences weren’t going to do shit for his friend.

 

He’d almost given up entirely by the time he finally got something of a lead. He’d gotten a private message from a user named Lucahjin. The name didn’t sound familiar, but that barely mattered considering the message. They were saying the same thing had happened to their boyfriend, that he’d gotten pulled into a hole like the one he’d described. He’d gotten hopeful right until he looked at this Lucahjin’s profile.  

 

There was one tiny little problem with any hopes of teaming up and going to look for Connor with this person: they lived in Japan. How had the same incident occurred halfway across the planet? How was that possible at all?

 

Then again, it wasn’t possible for a hole to open in the middle of the air and devour someone, so what did it matter it if was in Japan or Great Britain? It was just pretty unhelpful, since it meant that he couldn’t pin Connor down to any location either. Hell, he could very well be in another dimension or something, so a lot of good that did!

 

Still, it did plant an idea in his mind. He vaguely remembered hearing when he was little about his great-grandfather who’d moved to the UK from Japan. It was hard to forget, considering the absolute dickhead had lended him his abhorrent first name. But, it meant he’d probably have some cousins or something in Japan. Maybe some that would be willing to take in a transfer student so he wouldn’t have to stick around a school that had laughed in the face of his only friend after his apparent death.

 

Besides, in the off chance that he’d had something to do with what happened to Connor, with the weird monster power that had manifested right before he’d vanished, it’d be better to not be anywhere near Rosie. If something bad happened to his sister, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself… 

 

He brought the idea up to his family at dinner, and while Rosie got all huffy about it, his parents thought it was a great idea. Thought it would get him out of his funk. His dad said he’d call up a cousin he sort of knew that lived there and see if she’d take him. Caddy felt something resembling hope- at this point, a fresh start on things was the best he could hope for.

 

Even before he’d heard anything about it, he set on learning Japanese as best he could. He picked it up almost shockingly quickly; he’d always heard it was hard but he really took to it well. Maybe not quite to conversational levels yet, but he’d be able to do his best! And, after a few days, his mother came to him with the phone and told him it was that “aunt” of his, who wanted to speak to him.

 

The woman on the other end sounded cold and sharp, like a knife that’d been soaking in ice water. “What happened to your friend?”, the woman asked, talking in English to his surprise. “What kind of monster was it?”

 

“M-monster?”, Caddy repeated, throat tightening. “What do you-”

 

“No need to lie,” the woman assured him. “Magic runs in the family.”

 

He looked around to make sure his mother was out of the room and then answered in a hushed voice. “A big hole appeared out of thin air and sucked him in. U-uh, purple hands dragged him in?”

 

The woman hummed thoughtfully. “Oh, you poor thing!,” she exclaimed, her voice suddenly filling with a gentle warmth. “Just like Dean’s friend too… Well, you’ll be safe and sound with us, alright, Almond?”

 

Caddy cringed at the use of his real name. “I- I don’t go by that, everyone calls me Caddy…  Seriously, who names their kid after a nut?”

 

“Well, my name is Hazelnut, or Hazel for short, and it’s suited me just fine,” the woman countered. “But I understand… my son Peanut isn’t a fan of it either.”

 

He resisted the urge to snicker. Poor guy, Peanut was even worse than Almond! “Um, s-so, can I stay with you guys?”, he asked, desperately wanting to change the subject. 

 

“Of course, dear,” Hazel assured him. “But, I don’t want you telling my kids about what happened, understand? I’m trying to keep them as far from magic as I can.”

 

“A-alright, I can do that,” he agreed. He wouldn’t want his kids to be familiar with something that could potentially devour them whole either.  

 

“Wonderful!”, Hazel exclaimed. “School starts back here soon, but don’t worry, the kids go to a really nice, safe place. A bit pricey, but I’m sure we can get you in.”

 

“Th-thank you so much!” He went to a way too expensive private school as was, so he wasn’t too worried about price here. Just excited for it all. 

 

Aunt Hazel, as she insisted he call her, sent over the applications for the fancy school her kids went to. “Morning Glory Academy”, it was called, or maybe it was supposed to be called “Asagao Academy”. Either way, it was basically just another snobby prep school. But, the lack of painful memories was enough of a difference to make it sound wonderful.

 

And before he knew it, his family was seeing him off at the airport, Rosie trying to hide her tears behind the novelty sunglasses she’d insisted on getting at the little shop by the terminal. He’d miss her, but he felt like she’d be safer without someone who could drag her into all this magic stuff. 

 

The past would be behind him now. He could move forward, praying for a miracle to bring Connor back to him but trying to not dwell on that. But, as he gazed out the window at the clouds starting to drift beneath him, something terrifying occurred to him.

 

He’d always thought Connor was very pretty, he’d loved seeing him smile, and being around him had felt safe. He wanted to impress him, to make him feel enamored too. He’d been in love with him, hadn’t he?

 

His eyes started to burn. He really was alone, wasn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> 1- in the game it makes it pretty clear that PBG has lived in Japan for his whole life so look yeah he's white as heck irl but according to the game he and his family are from Japan so???  
> 2- yeah he's named Almond Caddick instead of Jim Caddick okay it's a bad joke that I couldn't resist  
> 3- y'all should check out Captain_Tomate's gem au it's amazing and it's another au we made together it's called Geodes


	2. Japan

Right when he got to the house he would be staying in while in Japan, Caddy realized his Aunt Hazel was a rather strange person. Really, no normal person had a chain link fence around their house that high, but it was all the patches of what looked like misplaced road salt that cemented it. He started to be a bit worried he’d accidentally gone to stay with a serial killer or something until given a hushed explanation. 

 

“It’s to keep out beasts like the one that took your friend,” said Aunt Hazel. “I’ve lost one child to them, not losing any more.”

 

That last part made Caddy tense up. “O-oh, I’m so sorry…”

 

Aunt Hazel sighed. “Thank you, dear. Just, please don’t mention that to your cousins, Peanut was very young and Cashew wasn’t even born yet. Can’t make them sad over what they never knew.”

 

Caddy nodded. “I won’t bring it up, ma’am.”

 

“Thank you for understanding. Ah, we should really go inside.” Aunt Hazel knocked a weird rhythm on the door, unlocked about twenty locks, and waited a moment more before opening it. 

 

A guy that looked maybe a bit older than Caddy was right there when they walked in and rushed to hug Aunt Hazel. “Mom, I missed you!”, he exclaimed, before turning to look at Caddy, his mouth forming into a little o shape. “Are you the cousin from England who’s staying with us?”

 

“Y-yeah,” Caddy started. God, this guy talked fast. 

 

Aunt Hazel gave him a reassuring smile. “This is Almond Caddick, he’ll be staying with us for a bit and going to Asagao when it starts back up.”

 

“Oh, that’s super cool!”, his cousin exclaimed. “I’m PBG, but you can just call me Peebs!”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Peebs,” he greeted. “But, uh, c-can you please call me Caddy?”

 

Peebs laughed a little. “See, mom? I told you no one likes being named after a nut.”

 

He seemed confused as to why saying like that made Caddy snicker, but ignored it. “Uh, a-anyways, we have the guest room ready! Got all of Dean’s stuff out of there. School doesn’t start for a few more weeks, so make yourself at home!”

 

Both him and Aunt Hazel showed him to the guest room. Considering the state of the house outside, he was a bit shocked they even had a guest room, but it was actually really nice looking. It even had a dresser and a little television on top of it. He wasn’t sure if he should ask who else usually stayed in this room, but he was definitely glad it was there. 

 

“Th-thank you so much for letting me stay here,” he said, stumbling a bit. “I promise I won’t be too much trouble; I usually keep to myself when I’m somewhere unfamiliar.”

 

Aunt Hazel frowned. “Oh, well, you won’t be any trouble at all! And we’ll make sure you feel at home!”

 

He felt a bit embarrassed. It was weird to have people he didn’t know eagerly embracing him as family. And, considering all the protection outside, it was probably a big deal for them to be letting him into their home in the first place. He didn’t even know what to say!

 

It seemed Aunt Hazel noticed he was overwhelmed, since she ushered Peebs out. “Let’s leave him alone,” she told him. “He’s probably jet lagged. Let’s let him unpack and get settled.”

 

The door closed behind them and left Caddy alone with his two suitcases. He felt too overwhelmed to do anything; not unpacking, not figuring out where stuff was in this house, and not even moving. He just flopped down on the bed and drifted in and out of sleep and thoughts so cluttered and messy he couldn’t tell if they were dreams or not. 

 

He must have stayed like that for several hours, as by the time someone knocked on his door, there were slivers of orange light peeking in from the few gaps between the boarded up windows. He forced himself to sit up and say “come in” loud enough to be heard, and the door creaked open. 

 

Caddy almost gasped when he looked up. There was a girl standing in front of him with glowing red eyes, too smooth and shiny skin, and a plate of food and glass of water in her hands. She couldn’t be human; she looked as artificial as the fake potted plants at the mall. 

 

“Mother wanted me to bring this to you,” she explained in a voice too tinny and precise to be human. “Said you probably wouldn’t want to eat with the rest of us right now.”

 

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered out. Mother? Was she Aunt Hazel’s other child? “Uh… y-you’re Cashew?”

 

“Kakusu,” she corrected. “Please, call me Kakusu. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

She set his food on the top of the dresser and extended a hand for him to shake. He expected it to be cold and metallic, but it was a lot warmer and softer than that. Was he wrong? Was this maybe just a magic thing and she was totally human?

 

“You’re staring,” Kakusu remarked as she pulled her hand away. “You’re wondering what I am, are you not?”

 

Caddy nodded. “S-sorry.”

 

“No, it’s of no offense to me,” Kakusu assured him. “But, you mustn’t tell anyone at all what I say to you.”

 

God, this family was kind of creepy. “I w-won’t,” he vowed, fearing what would happen if he slipped up. 

 

Kakusu smiled at that. “Wonderful! So, you see, I was created to protect this family from a very powerful enemy.”

 

“The monster that killed your sibling?”, he questioned. Wait, shit, Aunt Hazel had said not to mention that to the kids… “Uh…”

 

She laughed a little at his panicking. “Oh, it’s alright! Mother thinks she’s hidden that from us, but Peanut remembers. I don’t think he’s dead, my other brother, but I know something happened to him. They say our old house burned down, I wonder if perhaps that was the work of the monster I’m meant to be fighting.”

 

Well, maybe it wasn’t the same thing that took Connor, but it could have powers he didn’t know about. “Well, you must be very strong, then!”

 

Kakusu nodded. “I’m strong enough to lift up to 500 kilograms, and equipped with top of the line weapons systems.”

 

“Th-that’s cool!”, Caddy exclaimed. “Uh… I can fight a little, but I’m not equipped with anything…”

 

“Well, I suppose most humans don’t get upgrades,” she mused. “Still, I’m sure you’ll do find if the time comes where you must fight.”

 

She started to leave the room before seemingly remembering something. “Oh, and mother said to tell you the WiFi password. It’s Amaririsu84.”

 

“Amari… could you write that down?” 

 

Producing a pen and paper out of seemingly nowhere, Kakusu scribbled down a series of kanji- or were those katakana?- characters he wasn’t sure how to find on his phone’s keyboard. He’d have to ask for help doing that later, since his cousin was already leaving the room. 

 

He took a few bites of dinner before realizing he wasn’t hungry and decided to start unpacking. He set one of his suitcases on his bed and unzipped it to find his breath catching. There was something he hadn’t put in there: a framed picture. 

 

It was from a year or so ago. His parents had taken him to a game store a few towns over to get a game called Zibribbon he’d kept hearing was really cool but really rare, and he’d brought Connor with him because he thought the store might have some old computer game he was looking for. His parents had insisted on taking a picture of them and Rosie in front of the store and while he’d thought it was lame, he complied. 

 

Seeing it again now, his eyes started to well up. Connor looked so happy… Rosie was beaming too, and god, what he wouldn’t give to go back to that moment. For things just to be normal and nice again. 

 

He noticed a note with the picture but couldn’t see it through the blur of tears, save for his little sister’s signature. His heart started to ache. He was literally on the other side of the world, but still haunted by memories of something that could never come back. 

 

All he could really do was hug a random pillow on the bed and sob. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writer goals: making yourself actually cry real tears while writing. am i too attached to this au or did i do a good job? frick, idk
> 
> also yes kakusu is now peebs' robot sister. would you believe me if i told you this was because tomate said mimi should call kakusu "cashew" as a cute pet name? and not actually because we needed someone to replace mcjones after learning he's a garbage human, dean had already done most of that.


	3. Neighbor

Caddy couldn’t believe he was actually excited for school to start. That wasn’t something he’d ever thought he’d feel excitement for, but he genuinely wanted to start at Asagao. It wasn’t like he wasn’t having a fine time staying with Aunt Hazel, and he probably needed the adjustment time to figure out how to function in the country before starting school there, but he really just wanted to go ahead and get a move on with things. He didn’t want to relax or take things slow; he wanted to jump headfirst into the world and forget all about what he was leaving behind.

 

It would have been a lot easier if Aunt Hazel would just let him go out on his own, but considering all the security measures to even get into the house, he was a bit afraid to ask. About the only place he could go was next door to the neighbors’ house- he guessed they were family friends or something- so out of desperation he agreed to go over one day with Peebs to hang out with their son.

 

And so he went and was eagerly greeted by two women. They introduced themselves just as “Dean’s moms”, but Peebs called them Miss Aella and Miss Penelope with casualty that made the whole family friend thing seem near certain. Just by being in their house he could tell they were nice people. The whole place just felt warm and inviting, in a way that would make him feel happy just being there if it wasn’t for all the chatter around him.

 

They were quickly ushered back to this Dean guy’s room, and Caddy could tell right away what kind of person he was. Dean Elazab, as he could tell from the moment he opened his mouth made Peebs look calm and quiet by comparison. He was a perfectly nice person, sure, and seemed thrilled to meet him, but he was rather exhausting to be around. Caddy pretty much only went over to his place if he wanted someone to play Stupendous Stomp Sisters or GTM5 with him.

 

But, if nothing else, he did finally get something interesting to happen one day when he went over to ask Dean if he had that Underwatch game he kept hearing about.

 

It was the same as usual, just knock on the front door and ask whichever of his moms answered if he was home. It was Mrs. Elazab who answered, who he wasn’t sure if he should call Miss Aella or not since she seemed pretty casual but also it was a bit awkward being that informal with the mom of an obligatory friend. “Oh! Did Dean ask you to hang out with his friends?”, she questioned upon greeting him.

 

That really should have set off the sirens in Caddy’s head. But he just shrugged it off. “Uh, n-no, I was just dropping by…”

 

“Well, I’m sure he’d still love to have you!”, Miss Aella assured him. Caddy wasn’t really forward thinking enough to consider whether or not that was true before going to ask about that game. Or rather, he started to go ask before hearing some different loud voices coming from Dean’s room. Caught somewhere between panic and embarrassment, Caddy stopped just short of the door and listened.

 

“-come on, Corruptions aren’t that hard to take on,” an unfamiliar male voice stated matter-of-factly. “I mean, we managed to hold our own against the Cockatrice and Jackalope ones!”

 

“Just hold our own, though,” a female voice corrected. “I really don’t think we should try to take out this mermaid just the three of us. Maybe we could call up Jared?”

 

“I thought Jared was even more shut in than Peebs during breaks,” Dean countered.

 

The girl gave a little “oh”. “Uh, then Satch or Jirard, maybe? They’re good at stuff like that.”

 

“Oh, yeah!”, the unknown guy agreed. “That’s perfect! I mean, I still say we could go it alone, but that would require stealth, so we’d probably have to put tape over Dean’s mouth.”

 

Caddy couldn’t help but snicker a bit at that before realizing he was supposed to be quiet because he’d started eavesdropping without even realizing it. And, it seemed the people in the room realized it at the same time he did, as they fell silent as he did. “...shit,” Dean muttered, and before Caddy could run for it, the door was thrown open.

 

“Uh, h-hey!”, Dean greeted him, forcing a smile. “H-how much of that did you hear?”

 

He glanced at the other two in the room- a girl with long red hair and a guy with shorter dark hair and glasses- and smiled a bit. This was a bit too familiar a situation, trying to covertly speak about weird monsters. “Don’t worry, I’m like you guys,” he assured the three of them. “I know plenty about monsters and shit.”

 

A collective sigh spread across the room. “Oh thank fuck,” said the girl. “I thought we were gonna have to tell you it was our D&D campaign like with PBG! And like, honestly I don’t know shit about D&D so I don’t think that excuse would work twice.”

 

Caddy laughed a bit at that. “I always said it was that Beast Hunter game until I met someone who actually played those games. Then I switched to saying it was a story I was writing, but the D&D one is better, I’ll have to remember that.”

 

“I didn’t know you were a Magical Girl too!”, Dean exclaimed. “That’s so cool! I mean, I should have guessed, I know Miss Hazel was and you’re like, her nephew, right? But like, I didn’t know and that’s super duper cool that you are and-”

 

“I’m Ray, by the way,” the other guy interrupted, standing up and extending a hand for Caddy to shake.

 

“And I’m Lucah!”, the girl added. “We’re Dean’s fighting partners.”

 

Lucah? That name sounded familiar. Like, super familiar. “As in Lucahjin?”, he questioned.

 

She nodded. “Y-you’ve heard of me, then?”, she questioned. “Uh, where from?”

 

“You, uh, messaged me when I was asking about the hole that ate my friend,” he explained. God, that still sounded so weird to say.

 

Dean and Ray both gave him the pitying looks he had grown familiar with while Lucah covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, god… I’m so sorry that happened to you too! Are you that Caddicarus guy?”, she asked.

 

“Yeah, but just Caddy is fine.” It was kinda weird to be called by his internet username in real life, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. He turned to Dean as something finally drifted back up in his memories. “Wait… Aunt Hazel said that happened to one of your friends! Was that Lucah’s boyfriend?”

 

Dean nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. It was… gosh, almost a year ago now, right? Not too long after me and Ray joined the team.”

 

Lucah looked down at the carpet. “Yeah. We weren’t even fighting or anything, just hanging out. I… I’m not sure what happened still, honestly. Jon was just… gone, just like that.”

 

Caddy wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t sure what to say to her, anymore than he knew what he wanted people to say to him about all this. “Y-yeah…”

 

She looked up at him with an obviously forced smile. “Well, I mean, i-it can happen in our line of work…”

 

“But it’s still a lot of fun!”, Dean blurted out, probably desperately wanting to change the subject. “Uh, maybe you’d wanna fight that corruption with us? Did you hear that part?”

 

The idea of fighting kind of made his stomach twist. He still didn’t know if whatever he’d done last time had something to do with Connor’s fate, so he wasn’t even sure if it was safe for him to fight with others. “Uh, I think I’ll pass, but thanks.”

 

Dean pouted a bit. “Aw… okay…”

 

Ray looked over at the now frowning Dean and Lucah, who was still picking at the carpet. “Uh… well, it was nice meeting you, Caddy. I think maybe I should get these two some ice cream, so uh…”

 

“Yeah, okay, I’ll leave,” Caddy conceded. Ray knew them better than he did and could probably sense the likelihood that someone was gonna start crying even better than he could. “Uh, Lucah, I- I’ll message you if I find anything!”

 

He heard a “thanks!” thrown back at him as he rushed back to Aunt Hazel’s house. So that was what other magical girls were like? It made him feel a bit better knowing he wasn’t the only nervous wreck barely holding it together among his kind.

 

Forgetting all about that Underwatch game, he curled up and watched MeTube videos. It was a bit boring, just doing whatever to pass the time and keep his mind just occupied enough, but it would be over soon. School started the next week, and he was sure things would be a bit more interesting there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m gonna be honest I love Lucah and Ray more than I love pretty much anything else so I’m just so happy I got to introduce them here. Dean’s team is kinda one of my favorite things in this au and I just. Love it. Maybe help them, though. They probably need it. 
> 
> Other favorite thing is Dean’s moms who gosh I hope I get to write about more cause me and Tomate have all sorts of stuff about them. Because who needs actual canon characters when you have ocs?


	4. Arrival

Caddy had never been more excited to go anywhere as he was to finally go to this school. His cousins seemed excited as well, but for different reasons. They talked about friends of theirs constantly, and from what he could process from their rapid-fire chatter, it seemed Peebs was in some school club and maybe a sports team as well, and Kakusu was on the volleyball team or something? He could pick out a few names - Jeff and Jared, Mimi and Mai - but nothing much about them aside from assurances he would like them.

 

That wasn’t to say they were entirely excited to leave, though. Peebs shed a few tears saying goodbye to his dog, and while Kakusu was hard to read, he had to imagine she meant it when she said she’d miss her parents terribly. Caddy wasn’t sure he could really say with any degree of conviction that he’d miss Aunt Hazel, and he definitely wouldn’t miss the tendency to get lost in clouds of homesickness and grief for hours on end while being too nervous to talk to anyone about it, but he was grateful that she’d let him stay there.

 

He resolved to find someone to talk to on the train. He wanted friends, and considering the closest thing he’d gotten to that so far was accidentally walking in on Dean’s magical girl meeting, it was a matter of desperation at this point. Nothing Aunt Hazel said as she bid them farewell at the station registered with him; he was already trying to figure out how best to approach people. Just sit down next to someone? Or wait for someone to come by and offer them a seat by him?

 

Right up until he actually boarded the train, he was excited, but the moment he got on, he felt a chill. Everyone he saw was in clothes way nicer than anything he’d ever had, and bore the disinterested sneers that he was all too familiar with from the rich kids at his old school. This really was another snobby prep school…

 

Freezing up, he ended up just sort of sticking with Peebs and sitting down next to him, zoning out as the train started moving again. Was this just gonna be like last time? Well, he had one hope: he’d have a roommate, so he could maybe just put his all into befriending him and cling to him like he had Connor. Or maybe he could fall in with his cousins’ friends, or join a club… Or, worst case scenario, Dean went there too, right? So he could just join back up with his friends, they’d seemed nice enough. He’d be willing to fight again if it was the only thing stopping him from being alone.

 

But, before he could start panicking too badly, two people slid into the seats across from himself and Peebs: a guy he was pretty sure he’d seen a picture of on Peebs’ lockscreen who carefully set down his bag, and another guy wearing a disinterest frown. Before Caddy could stay a word, his cousin had launched up to hug the guy from his lockscreen. “Joof! Ohmygosh, I missed you so much!”

 

“I missed you too, Peebs!”, he exclaimed. He had to be that Jeff guy, Peebs brought that name up a lot, and they acted like they were really close. Like, to the point Caddy felt like he had to move over to the opposite side of the seats since Jeff was sitting so close to Peebs he was practically in his lap.

 

The other guy rolled his eyes as the two greeted each other, talking so fast they must have been trying to recount the entire break in less than a minute. “They’re always like this,” he remarked with a sigh. “So, sorry if you were hoping to talk to either of them.”

 

Caddy shrugged. “I got enough of PBG talking at home, and I don’t know the other guy, so…”

 

“At home?”, he repeated. “Didn’t know he had a brother. Weird considering Jeff seems to have every detail of his life memorized and recites it daily...”

 

Jeff squeaked. “I-Ian! I do not! Y-You’re making me sound like some sort of stalker!”

 

“I never meant to imply you stalk your boyfriend,” the guy, apparently Ian, assured Jeff, only making both him and Peebs turn bright red and meekly add “we aren’t dating…” and stuff like that. He chuckled a bit before turning back towards Caddy. “Sorry; it’s sort of my job to give him shit. You know how it is.”

 

“Uh, I guess? Uh, I’m Caddy, by the way. I-I’m PBG’s cousin. I, uh…” He really had no idea what else to say. Ian was supposed to introduce himself back now, right? Or did he not think he had to since Jeff had already mentioned his name?

 

Luckily, Ian seemed to realize he was floundering and finally picked up the slack. “Uh, Ian. That dipshit’s stepbrother.”

 

Caddy looked between the two of them. Even if they weren’t related, they definitely seemed like family. Even with Jeff all jumpy and Ian still carrying the same half scowl, there was something that made him feel positive they lived in the same household. Like, they felt the same or used the same detergent or something. Wait, why would he even notice how Ian smelled? He felt embarrassed even thinking that…

 

Ian looked at him sideways. “You get motion sick?”, he asked.

 

Oh, how wonderful; an excuse for him to look all zoned out and red that wasn’t totally mortifying! “Uh, y-yeah…”, he lied. “A bit.”

 

“Here, trade me seats,” Ian instructed. “The window seat’s worse for that. I dunno if it would help, but I have a blanket I could get.”

 

“N-no, you don’t have to do anyth-” He was cut off by Ian practically shoving him away from the window seat and throwing a blanket at him. Great, now he just felt more flustered, and if he’d not noticed his detergent before, he definitely did with his blanket all over him. It was kind of flowery, like lavender or something- oh for fuck’s sake, where was all this coming from? Was it because he realized he might have had feelings for one guy, now he was just gonna be bombarded with gay thoughts?

 

“I- I don’t need your blanket!”, Caddy exclaimed, feeling red infecting his cheeks and the back of his neck. “I- I’m already pretty warm…”

 

Ian huffed and took the blanket back. “Fine, whatever. Just trying to help.”

 

“Come on Ian, be nice to him!”, PBG chastised. “He’s been through a lot; new country, doesn’t know anyone, and one of his friends-”

 

“St-stop!”, Caddy exclaimed, feeling like he was about to explode. “I- I’m don’t need anyone to care; I don’t care, he wasn’t even being un-nice!”

 

He actually felt sick now. He thought maybe he could make a friend but then he exploded and Peebs was trying to get him pity points and all he’d wanted was just maybe a regular conversation. Now he was about to cry in front of two people he barely knew and he didn’t even know where the bathroom was to run in there to hide…

 

“Hey, it’s alright,” Ian assured him in that same soft voice he’d gotten way too much of in the past few months. “I’m all kinds of freaked out right now too, and I’ve been here before! I was a fucking wreck last year, so I know how it feels. And I know you definitely need a blanket so take your jacket off.”

 

Caddy still felt flustered, but he did what he said and took the hoodie he was wearing off. And, when Ian wrapped the blanket around him gingerly, his eyes threatened to spill the tears welling up in them. Why the fuck was he being so nice? Did he like this kindness or loathe it for being born in pity?

 

“I don’t want your pity,” Caddy muttered, curling up in the blanket.

 

“Yeah, I’m fresh out of pity,” Ian deadpanned. “This is just a rare moment of me being a nice person ‘cause school hasn’t drained all the will to live out of me yet. I’ll probably be a total asshat next time you see me so don’t get used to it.”

 

He laughed a little. “Well, I look forward to you being an asshat, Ian.”

 

“And I look forward to stealing this hoodie,” Ian added, moving the jacket Caddy had taken off into his lap. “I wanted one like this anyways, so you’re not getting it back.”

 

That elicited a few snickers and led to them chatting a bit more naturally for the rest of the ride. Caddy didn’t feel as on edge; something about the blanket and normal conversation made him feel better than he had in months.

 

Ian, as it turned out, was a pretty alright guy. Didn’t really like talking about himself, or much at all, but he’d chime in whenever he thought of something to add to his stepbrother’s never ending and meandering chatter. Caddy had no idea what they were talking about half of the time, but he didn’t mind. Really, it was just nice to be in an actual conversation for once.

 

He almost didn’t want the train to stop, but when it did, Ian got out of the compartment so fast that Caddy wasn’t able to give him his blanket back. Oh well, it was comfortable, and he wouldn’t mind keeping it for a while. But, as he gathered his own stuff, he noticed he couldn’t find his own jacket.

 

“Little shit, he really did take my hoodie…”

 

“He does stuff like that a lot,” Jeff remarked as he picked up his own bag like it was full of priceless gems or something. “But he’s really nice when you get to know him! Peebs, you wanna come help me get my room set up?”

 

Peebs practically leapt up and grabbed his stuff. “Yeah, of course! Right behind you- oh, uh, Caddy, Jirard should be by the gate. Big beard, green jacket, can’t miss him. Ask him to show you around, alright?”

 

As Peebs sped off, Caddy stuffed Ian’s blanket awkwardly into his bag and tried to commit that to memory. Big beard, green jacket… his name was Jirard? Hadn’t Dean’s friends mentioned a Jirard? Was it the same guy?

 

Well, he supposed he’d find out soon enough. As he stepped off the train, he found himself staring. The school was beautiful, like something from a postcard, and the cherry blossoms were in bloom and shedding petals like pink snow.

 

He smiled. This was gonna be great, he just knew it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> April Fools, Caddy isn’t miserable for once.


	5. Dorms

Caddy found that Jirard guy pretty easily, but getting close enough to talk to him was another story. For one, an awful lot of people seemed to be waiting by the gate, either to find a friend or find someone to show them around. Not to mention Jirard was already talking to at least four people at once, all wearing the same weird green jacket he was and come to think of it, hadn’t PBG had something like that on a hook in his room? Was it some sports thing? Probably some sports thing.

 

He was honestly a bit nervous to try and interrupt Jirard. He noticed people staring at him and his group of friends in awe, so yeah, probably some sports thing. They were probably stars of the soccer team or whatever and too busy to show some kid around. He started to walk away and just try and find his room before Jirard noticed him in the crowd and waved him over.

 

“Hey, are you lost?”, he asked loudly as Caddy nervously weaved his way through the crowd and towards him.

 

“U-uh, yeah…”, Caddy muttered, trying to keep it together. “You’re Jirard, right?”

 

Jirard lit up. “Yep! It’s great to meet you in person!”

 

“I-in person?”, Caddy repeated. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

 

He frowned. “You’re Shane, right?”

 

Caddy felt his cheeks burning. Of course, he had gotten him confused for someone. “N-no… S-sorry…”

 

“Oh, my bad! But do you need any help?”, Jirard offered. “I’m waiting for my roommate, but I can help you out as soon as I find him!”

 

A lot of people were staring at them now- the other guys in the green jackets and the people passing by alike. His heart was pounding- for fuck’s sake, he’d come here to get people to stop looking at him! “N-no, I’m fine…”, Caddy muttered. “C-can you just tell me where the boys’ dorms are?”

 

“Just right over there- blue building, can’t miss it!” Jirard pointed towards a building Caddy could kind of make out in the distance. He thanked him so quickly the words came out in a slurry and ran over there. Wow, nice going playing it cool there, he thought to himself. Approaching some popular kid and stuttering like an idiot, what a way to make a first impression! Why had Peebs told him to talk to him of all people?

 

He took some deep breaths and looked for his room number in his papers again. 104; not hard to remember, and probably on the first floor and close to the front door. Sounded like a nice arrangement. Hopefully his roommate would be nice enough and he would have an assured friend built in!

 

His room was pretty easy to find, and as he went in, he saw someone already in there. He was short, with all the physical mass of a pencil, and sitting on a plain-looking bed piled up with a few blankets and stuffed animals while playing a 4DS. Caddy had to hold back a sigh of relief- this guy looked about as non-threatening as they came and sufficiently dorky for the crowd he tended to flock towards.

 

It took him a solid minute to look up from his game, in which time Caddy set his suitcases on the unoccupied bed in the room and unzipped them. He’d already put the framed picture of himself, Rosie, and Connor on the table beside his bed before his roommate acknowledged his presence.

 

“Hope you don’t mind being stuck with me,” he said flatly, closing his 4DS and looking up. “I was gonna try to switch rooms, but my roommate from last year said his new roommate is kind of a nervous wreck and would probably freak out if he thought he was being abandoned. So, unless you’re a total asshat, you’re stuck with me.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Caddy assured him. “I’m way too desperate to be an asshat.” Crap, that came out wrong. “Uh, I mean-”

 

His roommate chuckled, a little smile curling across his face. “Okay, yeah, same. I’m Jimmy, by the way.” He stood up and Caddy thought he was gonna shake his hand, but instead he went towards the light switch. “Mind if I turn the fan on?”, he questioned.

 

“No?” It was already kind of cold in there, but considering the mountain of blankets, he guessed Jimmy liked it cold enough to bundle up. And besides, he had plenty cause to bundle up himself with that blanket he’d accidentally stolen. “Uh, I-I’m Caddy…”

 

Jimmy nodded and went to sit back on the bed, curling up in one of the blankets. “Caddy? Alright, Caddy. Where are you from, anyways? The UK?”

 

“Yeah, England. Accent kind of gives it away, huh?”

 

“I mean, I figured but like, you could have been Australian or something and I would have looked like a dummy for not being able to tell your accent apart,” Jimmy muttered, opening his game back up. “You play Nokemon? I’m doing a Fuzzlocke and I have a Pebbler I need to evolve.”

 

“Which game?”, Caddy questioned, digging his 4DS out of his stuff. He hadn’t used the thing much, but he had been enjoying Ultra Dusk.

 

“SoulSteel.”

 

Was that one of the… fifth gen ones? No, fourth gen. “Uh, no, sorry. Don’t have that one. I only have the latest one and a few of the really old ones.”

 

Jimmy sighed and closed his game again, pulling out his phone. “Oh, alright. I’ll ask Wal to come by whenever he can, if that’s alright.”

 

“Uh, sure,” Caddy agreed. “Who’s that, friend of yours?”

 

“Boyfriend,” Jimmy corrected. “He’ll probably be coming over a lot, so if you have a problem with that-”

 

“No, of course I don’t!”, Caddy assured him. “I, er, I’m kinda… not straight myself…” Wait, was that the first time he’d told anyone that? He’d not really wanted to talk about something like that to his family back home over the phone, and he’d feel kinda awkward telling his family over here without it coming up. So, yeah, this was the first time he’d really come out about it, and it was to a guy he’d known for all of five minutes. That kind of felt… weird.

 

But, Jimmy smiled a bit. “Oh, sweet! I was kinda hoping I’d end up with someone else to talk about stuff like that to. Like, Wallid’s great, love him to death, but, like, I want more queer friends than just my boyfriend, y’know?”

 

“To be honest, the whole thing’s kinda new to me,” Caddy admitted. “Figured out I have feelings for a guy friend on the way over here and I’m still not sure what to do about that.”

 

“Well, from experience, if you’re 100% sure about it, it’s probably best if you let him know,” Jimmy offered. “If he says no it’ll hurt like hell but things won’t be awkward for long and if he says yes then it’ll either be great or your relationship will fizzle out and just end up- okay maybe don’t listen to me. I’ve confessed to a grand total of one person and even that was after he said he liked me first so like, ignore everything I just said. Maybe just flirt a little and see if he catches on?”

 

His brain went back to the last time he’d seen Connor. Getting dragged into nothingness, unable to scream. He froze a bit and his heart ached again. “C-can’t… do that.”

 

“Oh, right, he’s a friend from back home, right?”, Jimmy questioned. Caddy just nodded. He didn’t want to say he was dead; he didn’t want to be getting pity from a new friend he was already opening up to way too quickly. Besides, that would just make it more real.

 

“Eh, well, maybe you’ll meet someone here you wouldn’t feel awkward liking!”, Jimmy offered. “I’ve heard there’s an awful lot of LGBTQ students, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

 

That made him feel a bit better about it. He’d been a bit nervous about being too open with it, but if he was far from the only one, then it wouldn’t be too weird, right? “Uh, thanks. I think I’m just gonna lay down for a bit? This is all a bit… much, you know?”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Jimmy assured him. “Bathroom’s down the hall if you need it. Want me to wake you up when Wallid comes in or just introduce you another time.”

 

“A-another time,” Caddy stuttered. “Thank you.”

 

He grabbed the blanket and until he had it around himself, he totally forgot it wasn’t his. But, soon it was surrounding him, and the scent of it was kind of comforting, in a weird way.

 

Even if he hadn’t realized it until he found his thoughts scattering, he really was as sleepy as he was overwhelmed. Connor, his best friend who had always made him feel better, was still gone, and he missed him so much it physically hurt, but the blanket he sort of stole from Ian was warm and nice and it made him feel safe. Ian had been kind of wonderful, really. Didn’t talk down to him when he heard he was having a rough time, just understood and tried to help. Was it possible he had a crush on a guy he only met that day?

 

Was it weird to hope he did?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gay culture is either taking 5 years or 5 minutes to fall in love with someone there’s no in between


	6. First Morning

He dreamt he was on a date with Connor. Or, at least, he assumed it was a date. Maybe they were just at a cafe together for some other reason, having biscuits and tea; that wouldn’t be too weird a thing for friends to do.

 

Still, it was oddly tense, so he figured it was a date. He was panicking a little, why did he feel so weird? It was just Connor...

 

Connor smiled, putting a hand gently on his. “It’s alright. Just relax; let’s have a nice time.”

 

In the dream, it didn’t seem odd to see him smiling like that. It was wonderful to know he was having a nice time, certainly, but it wasn’t like it was something he’d kill to see again. He knew there would be other times. This felt like a regular thing; like one of many.

 

He looked down to take a sip of his tea, but when he looked up, Connor wasn’t there anymore. Instead, Ian was sitting where he had been, smiling slightly at him and still holding his hand. It didn’t register to him that this was weird, just that it was still nice.

 

“I’m glad we’re here just the two of us,” Ian remarked idly. “It’s always nice to get you alone.”

 

There wasn’t any blushing at that comment, just a dry laugh. He was sweet, but that wasn’t weird. He was used to that. He was used to his bouts of flirting.

 

Taking another sip of the tea, he found Connor back there. A bite of his cookie, and Ian was there again. They were looking at him very differently - intently like he’d vanish at any moment or slyly like he was a precious treasure hidden away - but his own feelings remained the same. He was just happy to be there. Not terribly excited, but grateful to be with him.

 

When he finally woke up for good, looking back on the dream made him a bit uneasy. For fuck’s sake, he’d only met Ian a day ago! Why was he already having weird lovey dovey dreams about him? And Connor, well, that just made him sad. Maybe that was a glimpse into another life or something, where Connor was safe and he was still back home. Maybe if he could have saved him, he would have gotten over himself and realized how he felt and they could have been happy together.

 

Part of him wanted to start sobbing, and he nearly gave into that before he remembered he wasn’t alone in the room. Jimmy was there too, already awake and playing some game. He’d probably be a bit confused if he heard him just openly weeping, especially since he’d kind of neglected to tell him Connor was pretty much certainly dead.

 

So, he choked the tears back and checked his schedule again. Looked like they didn’t really change classes; he was just marked as being in class 1-A. Was there a 1-B? 1-C? He really hadn’t gotten a feel for how big the school was yet. Certainly smaller than his old school, but he wasn’t sure exactly how much smaller.

 

His train of thought was derailed by his stomach growling. He hadn’t really eaten much yesterday, so it was little wonder he suddenly needed food desperately. “Do you know if we like, go to breakfast or something?”, Caddy asked out loud.

 

Jimmy looked up and shrugged. “I mean, I guess so. How else are they gonna keep us fed? All I have in here is a half-eaten bag of chips.”

 

“Can we go?”, Caddy asked. “I’m starving and not sure where the cafeteria is.”

 

Nodding, Jimmy peered out the window and made an L-shape with his left hand. “Alright, so it’s… that way!” He pointed towards another building outside. Caddy stood up and started out the door before hearing Jimmy rushing behind him and adding something. “Mind if I ask Wal to meet us there?”

 

“Yeah, go ahead,” he conceded. He did still want to make friends here, and he supposed his roommate’s boyfriend was as good a place to start as any. If he was gonna be seeing a lot of him anyways, might as well be friends, right?

 

A guy he presumed was Wallid flagged them down from halfway across the cafeteria when they got there. “Hey, there you are!”, he exclaimed, rushing to greet Jimmy. “How are you doing? Did you sleep alright without me?”

 

From the way Jimmy blushed at that, he was certain that was Wallid. “Wal, maybe not in front of him?”, he mumbled.

 

“O-oh!” Wallid turned to him, looking a bit too shocked to see him. “Sorry, I guess I’m kinda used to it just being me and Jimmy. Uh, don’t think we’ve met. I- I’m Wallid!”

 

He extended a hand towards Caddy, which he shook. “I’m sure we’re gonna be great friends!”, he exclaimed happily. Wallid was certainly a lot more energetic than Jimmy was, to say the least. He radiated pure sunshine, as opposed to Jimmy’s distinct aura of “can’t be bothered”.

 

Or, at least, Jimmy had seemed a lot more apathetic before. Now that Wallid was here, he was a bit more talkative, launching into eager chatter with him and practically ignoring Caddy. Maybe he would have minded that more had he not noticed someone else shunted off to the side, being ignored by the lovebirds.

 

The other guy there was attempting to hide his face under the hat he was wearing, but doing a pretty poor job of it simply because he was one of the tallest people there. Still, he seemed to shrink into himself, shaking a bit.

 

Caddy recognized his panic- it was the same one he’d felt the day before at the school gates. And, if this person panicked as he did, perhaps he could be comforted in the same way. Relax, he told himself. Just try to do what Ian had done for him.

 

“Wanna go get food?”, he offered him. It seemed to take a moment for it to register with the guy that he was the one being addressed, but when he realized it, he jumped a bit before nodding. Caddy looked around, trying to act confident. Looked like some older kids were lining up, so he dragged him to go join said line.

 

Luckily, it was in fact the line for food, and they both got trays and various breakfast items. The tall guy got a bowl of… rice soup with fish? He’d seen Aunt Hazel make something like that a few times but he’d always just eaten cereal instead. Caddy wasn’t really in the mood to have that for breakfast, and was thankful they had some more western options. The eggs looked just as fake as they did in schools back home. Something about that was comforting.

 

“Th-thank you for going up with me,” the tall guy stuttered out as they found a place to sit down. “I would have been kinda scared to go up alone.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry about it!”, Caddy assured him. “To be honest, I would have been too.”

 

The guy smiled a bit. “U-uh, I’m Luke, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“Caddy,” he said simply. “I’m new here.”

 

“M-me too,” Luke mumbled. “Second year...”

 

So he was a transfer student? Probably from a bit closer than Caddy was, he had to guess, but that was cool! “Oh, I’m a transfer student too! Well, a first year one; dunno if that’s even the right word to use but I was going to school in England before so…”

 

“Wow! That’s pretty far!,” Luke exclaimed. He gave a bit of an empty chuckle. “I just transferred from Himawari High and I’m already kinda homesick…”

 

“Well, anyone would be!”, Caddy assured him. “But I’m sure you’ll get used to it here!”

 

Luke smiled. “Well, I’m sure the same is true for you!” He’d already really warmed up, and it’d only been a few minutes! He supposed a friendly face really did make a world of difference.

 

“So, uh, what kind of stuff are you in to?”, Caddy questioned. Was that a good conversation topic? He hoped so…

 

“Like, hobbies?”, Luke asked. Caddy just nodded, and Luke paused for a moment, as if to think. “Uh, well, I mean, I like music…”

 

Music! That was something Caddy knew at least a bit about. “Oh? Play any instruments?”

 

Luke shrugged. “I mean, a few, but that’s not the part I like. I- I’ve been putting together some songs of my own lately… like, writing them and stuff…”

 

He hid his face a bit, clearly embarrassed, but Caddy just found himself staring in awe. “Whoa, seriously? That’s really cool!”

 

“It’s really nothing!”, Luke insisted. “They’re not any good, I just… it’s a good way to vent, you know? Take stuff that you’re upset about or anything you’re holding in and just… put it out there. Put it into something else.”

 

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Caddy mused. “Kinda wish I had my drum kit; it was always fun to wail on them when I got worked up about something.” He hadn’t been in the mood for them in a while - depressed drumming didn’t really work as well - but if he could get past that he figured he’d miss them.

 

It was Luke’s turn to light up, looking at him like he’d said something impressive. “Oh, wow! That’s really cool! I don’t play any percussion stuff, unless piano counts, so maybe if there’s a drum kit in the music room or anything we could play together sometime?”

 

“T-together?”, Caddy repeated. “Never really played with anyone, to be honest. Only started playing ‘cause my parents tried to force me to learn piano and that was the best compromise I could think of.”

 

“A-alright,” Luke said with all the enthusiasm of a slowly deflating balloon. “But like, if I needed a percussion track for a song, maybe-?”

 

“Maybe,” Caddy conceded. He couldn’t just say no to him; he already seemed a few frowns away from crying. So, maybe was fair enough.

 

They chatted more for a bit, Jimmy and Wallid eventually joining them with their food, and none of them really had much to say. Still, idle chatter was nice. He’d missed talking about nothing.

 

He was kind of sad when the bells rang to signal the start of classes. Jimmy and Wallid seemed to be in the same class as him, but Luke wouldn’t be. Luke seemed nice; like someone he wouldn’t mind knowing better.

 

Either way, he knew he’d see him again soon enough, so he wasn’t too worried. Maybe he’d even try to work up the confidence to help him with the drum thing if he asked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get up! I’ve been busy and I ended up rewriting most of this chapter. Still, I like how this ended up turning out a lot better.


	7. Homeroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get up! I’ve had tests and graduation and my computer’s been broken. Hopefully I can actually update a lot and not get distracted by summer complacency! I really hope everyone keeps enjoying this, because I really want to tell this story.

Their teacher was… weird, to say the least. Inhumanly tall, with a kind of creepy grin.

 

He wrote his name on the chalkboard. It took Caddy a second to figure out what it said, given his handwriting didn’t seem to be the best. Amory? Was that even a name?

 

“Now, class, I believe some introductions are in order,” he began. “You may call me Amory.”

 

Another student raised her hand and when Amory nodded at her, she asked a pretty good question. “Is that your first name or your last name? And do we call you Mr. Amory?”

 

“Just Amory,” he assured her. “You don’t need to concern yourself with my last name or formalities.”

 

A quiet wave of confusion washed over the classroom. “I thought Asagao was a super snobby school?”, Wallid whispered. “But they hired this guy?”

 

Amory cast a glare in his direction. “I can assure you I’m more than competent,” he snapped.

 

Wallid sank into his chair, bright red and muttering apologies. Caddy felt kind of bad for him; there should have been no way for him to hear that all the way across the room. Hopefully the teacher wouldn’t hold that against him.

 

The teacher went back to being rather jovial right away, at least. Gave a little speech that was basically all off of the school’s website and then told the students to introduce themselves and chat for a bit and then they’d do an icebreaker game. Dear lord, did Caddy hate those. How was he supposed to think of some interesting way to introduce himself when the only interesting things about him were either depressing or supernatural?

 

As he tried to think, Jimmy rushed up to ask the teacher something. He assumed he was asking to go to the bathroom, but then the teacher wrote something down and Jimmy rushed back to sit down, smiling.

 

Before Caddy could ask what that was all about, Wallid did just that. “Did he change your name on the roster?”, he asked.

 

Jimmy nodded. “He was really cool about it! Said he’d talk to the headmaster about getting it changed in the system too.”

 

“That’s great! See, told you it would be better here!”

 

“Were you changing it from James to Jimmy or something?”, Caddy questioned.

 

To his surprise, Jimmy just smiled even harder. “Oh, just getting it changed from my deadname,” he explained.

 

“Deadname? Oh, alright. Hadn’t noticed. I’m glad you got that changed; not exactly the same experience, but I know it’s sucky to get called on by a name you don’t wanna be called.” Caddy wasn’t sure if he should say that. He didn’t wanna make it all about him and he knew getting called something embarrassing was different than getting called by a deadname but he wanted to try and make conversation.

 

“So Caddy’s a nickname?”, Wallid questioned. “I mean, I guess I’ve never heard someone called that before but I also don’t really know anyone from the UK so I figured it was just me having never heard it.”

 

Caddy sighed. “Yes, it is. My last name is Caddick, it’s short for that. But please, let’s not get into my first name, it’s kind of dreadful.”

 

“You should go ask Amory to change it too, then,” Jimmy suggested.

 

He glanced up at the teacher and forced himself to stand up. Yeah, he better do that now before the whole class learned his name was Almond Caddick.

 

“Um, sir?”, Caddy started. “Could you please change my name on the roster too?”

 

Amory looked up at him and nodded. “Of course! So you’re-“

 

“Caddick.”

 

His teacher scanned the list before finding his name. He stared at it for a moment, not in shock or amusement but just looking vaguely interested. “Alright, I can certainly see why you’d want that changed. What to?”

 

“Caddy,” he stated. “That’s what I go by.”

 

The teacher marked out Almond and wrote Caddy there. “Alright! There, all fixed. I’ll see if I can get the headmaster to put it in the system so any substitutes won’t accidentally call you the wrong thing, alright?”

 

“Th-thank you,” Caddy stuttered out. He’d never actually had the nerve to do that. But honestly, thank god he wouldn’t have to hear anyone else making terrible jokes about it at his expense.

 

He wasn’t even sure what he ended up saying during the icebreaker. Probably something like “my name’s Caddy and I’m from England”, because that was interesting enough to these people, right?

 

Pretty much everyone else’s seemed to be bragging, though. Most of them said that their parents owned some company he’d never heard of or that their sibling was a shareholder in some company he’d never heard of, or something to that effect. So yeah, this school was super snobby. Why did Aunt Hazel send her kids there, again? The family was well off enough, but they didn’t seem ridiculously wealthy or anything, and definitely didn’t have sticks up their asses like most of these kids. Maybe it was just because it was safe? He really had no idea.

 

But eventually the icebreakers finished, the lunch bell rang, and Caddy instinctively started pulling his backpack up and floating towards the door before their teacher gave him a piercing look. “Excuse me, you three in the back, could you stay for a moment?”, he requested.

 

Caddy glanced back at Wallid and Jimmy, who were frozen with the most obvious looks of panic across their faces.

 

After all the other kids had filed out, Amory turned to look at them straight on. Up close, his gaze was unnerving. He smiled widely, revealing teeth a bit too sharp to belong on a person. “I know you three are magical girls, so I must make one thing very clear.”

 

“Wait, three?”, Wallid interjected, taking the words right out of Caddy’s mouth. “Caddy, are you-?”

 

Jimmy cut him off. “Wal, you’re supposed to pretend you don’t know what he’s talking about!”, he insisted. “Now if Caddy isn’t he knows!”

 

Before Wallid could get into any backtracking or apologies, Caddy cut him off to spare them all the hassle. “No, I am. I didn’t know you two were, though.”

 

Despite the circumstances, Wallid began beaming. “Oh, that’s so cool! All three of us are magical girls, what are the odds?”

 

That was a pretty valid question, but Jimmy rolled his eyes at it. “I mean, considering this place, the odds are pretty high.”

 

“Well, yeah, but he’s a transfer student!”

 

“Exactly! Why else would he transfer here?”

 

He interrupted their lover’s spat not because it was insufferable, but because he was somehow even more confused. “Excuse me, but what on earth are you talking about? I just came here because my aunt’s kids go here!”

 

“Well, are they magical girls?”, Jimmy questioned sharply.

 

“Uh…” Well, Kakusu had mentioned some stuff about it but he really had no idea about PBG. “Maybe?”, he settled on.

 

Wallid glanced back at their teacher. “Uh, is this really the time?”

 

“That’s what I was saying!”, Jimmy exclaimed. “I just- okay yeah, but so what if we are? A lot of students are! That’s sort of what this school is known for! Hell- er, heck, we probably aren’t even the only ones in this class!”

 

Amory made a noise of disapproval. “That’s no way to talk to your teacher, Mr. Whetzel. I was simply going to issue a request to the three of you.”

 

“And what’s that?”, Caddy huffed, his teacher’s sly grin making him feel a bit sick to his stomach.

 

“Simply put, if you see any strange activity going on around this school, it’s better if you stay out of it,” Amory explained matter-of-factly. “I wouldn’t want my precious students to get hurt…”

 

The way he said it felt more like a threat than any sort of warning. And between his towering height, too bright eyes, and too sharp teeth, Caddy felt as if he were more than capable of enacting that threat. He wasn’t going to try and be defiant, not here and especially when he lacked a good reason to investigate anything around the school in the first place. “Understood, sir,” he stated flatly. “We’ll be careful.”

 

Amory’s eyes flickered over Wallid and Jimmy, who hadn’t said a word, before he simply nodded. “Alright, I certainly hope you keep that in mind! Now, run along, I’m sure you won’t want to be too late to lunch!”

 

Caddy found a hand closing around his wrist and Jimmy dragging him and Wallid through the door. They passed a girl on their way out, with part of her black hair bleached blonde and an air of confidence. She only gave them a passing glance, but even from that he could sense something about her that he didn’t quite understand and couldn’t put his finger on.

 

Whatever it was, he didn’t have much time to linger on it before he found himself dropped off in a secluded corner. Jimmy had a strange look on his face; a slight frown between horrified and annoyed.

 

“What was all that?”, asked Wallid. “What was his deal?”

 

Jimmy hesitated and took a deep breath before providing an answer. “I can’t say for sure, but if I had to guess I’d say he’s a Kitsune.”

 

“A what?” Caddy had heard the term before, but just as a monster in games. “You mean like that fox thing? Those are real?”

 

His surprise seemed to catch Jimmy more off guard than the entire interaction with their teacher had. “Do you… not have those in England? Uh, yeah, they’re definitely a real thing. Magical foxes that can take on a human form, basically. They’re powerful but usually not aggressive. Usually.”

 

“Have you fought one before?”, Caddy asked.

 

That completely froze him up in a way that made Caddy feel kinda guilty for asking. Jimmy suddenly sat down, hugging his knees to his chest. “Well, I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have much of a choice,” he muttered. “And I kinda really fucked it up hard. Almost killed me.”

 

Wallid joined him on the floor and put an arm around him. “It’s alright, we don’t have to talk about that,” he assured him softly.

 

Jimmy smiled a bit. “I’m fine, but thank you. Kinda wanna talk about it, to be honest. Gotta tell Caddy stuff, right?”

 

Caddy took that as a cue to sit down on the floor with them. “I’m listening,” he assured him.

 

“Alright, so is there anything else you don’t know about?”, Jimmy asked. “Avians? Mánagarmr? Elytra?”

 

“Considering I don’t know what any of those words mean, yes.”

 

Jimmy stared at him for a second before giggling. “Wow, you really are new! Tell you what, how about let’s go to lunch, and then after class we’ll meet in our room and I’ll tell you all about magic stuff!”

 

“I can help!”, Wallid offered. “I haven’t really fought much or anything yet, but Jimmy’s taught me a lot.”

 

Caddy nodded. “Alright, sounds like fun. So, I’ll talk to you guys after class?”

 

“Do you not want to eat lunch together?”, Wallid questioned, sounding a bit like a deflating balloon.

 

“I mean, we can, but there was someone I wanted to talk to,” Caddy admitted. “I met this guy on the train and I haven’t gotten another chance to talk to him.”

 

“Aw, good luck, then!”, Wallid exclaimed. “I’m sure you two will be great friends!”

 

Jimmy muttered something under his breath he couldn’t quite catch, save for a bit that sounded like “that’s what they’re calling it now” that left him a bit confused. But whatever it was, Wallid rolled his eyes at it.

 

“So, uh, catch you guys later?”, Caddy started. “No- wait, we all need to go the same way.”

 

They awkwardly pulled themselves off the floor as Jimmy snickered about Caddy not knowing how directions worked. This was what friendship felt like, wasn’t it?

 

Well, he was glad to have it again. He’d really, really missed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, yes Amory is an OC. A lot of the adults in this will be. But I still hope he’s an interesting character!


	8. Lunch

Ian wasn’t too hard to find, considering he was sitting alone, picking at a burrito. Caddy had to take a deep breath to gather him, his heart was pounding so fast. “Um, hey, mind if I sit here?”

 

Looking up, Ian smiled slightly. “Oh, hey. Go ahead. Your hoodie is pretty comfortable, by the way.”

 

Caddy had to fight the urge to start stammering and bit down the bright red flush creeping up his cheeks. “Yes, it is, actually,” he retorted as he sat down. “As is your blanket.”

 

“Good, cause you’re keeping it.” Ian pushed his barely eaten food aside and leaned forward on his elbows. “Anyways, I was talking to- well, not a friend, more like an acquaintance- and he told me that you’re…” He broke into a whisper. “A magical girl.”

 

“H-huh?” Who had told him that? Couldn’t be Wallid or Jimmy, and weren’t the only other guys who knew Dean and his friend? Probably was Dean, come to think of it. He seemed pretty mouthy. But why would he say that. “I- I’m-“

 

Chuckling, Ian leaned a bit closer to him. “Relax,” he whispered. “We’re on the same team here.”

 

“W-we are? You’re-“

 

Ian just nodded. “Been for about, oh, a year maybe? About this time last year, few days after I started at Asagao. Got an awful headache, ran into the bathroom, started glowing, and I had to explain to my teacher why I came back to class wearing a sparkly purple dress.”

 

Caddy laughed so hard he snorted. “O-oh my god, you didn’t even change?” He couldn’t even imagine being all dressed up as a magical girl in public. They were so flashy! Maybe he could get away with a plain skirt or dress, but something like that? He’d have gotten roasted alive at his old school!

 

“I didn’t have another uniform and I couldn’t figure out how to transform back!”, Ian exclaimed. “I was so bad at first I was just stuck like that for the rest of the day until Jeff told me how to change back. Turns out he’d been one for half a year and never told me, the absolute jerk.”

 

“That’s amazing,” Caddy said, holding back a giggle. “What did you tell the teacher?”

 

“Said I lost a bet,” Ian explained. “I’m still garbage at it all, but at least I know how my costume works.”

 

“I’m sure you’re not garbage!”, Caddy countered. “If you wanna see garbage, just look at my lame-ass powers!”

 

After an awkward moment of staring at him, Ian stood up and took Caddy by the wrist. He barely had even a moment to register what was going on or get embarrassed before Ian dragged him out the doors of the cafeteria and into an outdoor area, where some students were eating on picnic blankets or just sitting on the grass. Ian dragged him a bit further, out of view of the other kids, before stopping.

 

Heart pounding out of his chest, Caddy tried to catch his breath enough to speak. “F-for fuck’s sake, why did you drag me all the way out here?”

 

“You offered to show me your ‘lame-ass powers’, so I figured it was best to go somewhere more private,” Ian explained. When Caddy just blankly stared at him, Ian added “I’ll show you mine too, so you can see real garbage.”

 

A lump formed in Caddy’s throat. His powers were definitely not something he should show off this close to a school. “Um, my power is guns,” he explained. “Pretty noisy ones too. Someone could hear it here.”

 

Ian nodded. “Got it. Me first, then?” 

 

“Uh-”

 

Light surrounded Ian, and faded to reveal a very frilly and sparkly purple dress, with black and white ribbons adorning it. It had a sort of cape with it, all tattered and actually cool looking. Ian smirked. “How do I look?”, he asked. 

 

Caddy smirked himself. “Like you lost a bet.”

 

“Oh, you-” Ian cut himself off. “Wait, you get motion sick, right?”

 

“Huh?” What did that have to do with anything? “No, not really. I was lying because I was panicking and didn’t wanna say I was.”

 

“Oh, good. Hold on tight, then.”

 

Before Caddy could say a word, Ian had grabbed his wrist again, and the world around them became blurry and dizzying as he tried to follow Ian. After just a few seconds, they stopped and Caddy realized he had no idea where the hell they were. “Wh-wha? Huh?”

 

Letting go of his wrist, Ian took a few steps back and suddenly blinked back even further. In another instant, he was right in front of him again. Caddy nodded. “Oh, alright. Super speed or teleportation?”

 

“Teleportation,” Ian answered. “Can’t go that far, can’t go anywhere I can’t see, and can only take like, one person. Or three small animals, something which testing almost led to my untimely death at the hands of my own brother.”

 

“Oh, wow!”, Caddy exclaimed. “That’s really cool! Uh, the teleporting, not your brother almost killing you.”

 

The little laugh Ian did sent gay shockwaves through Caddy’s body. He was cute. Dammit, he was  _ cute _ . “Yeah, I’d never seen Jeff so angry! But I mean, he loves those hamsters more than he loves anyone else in our family, me included, so I really should have seen that coming. A-anyways, enough about me, I wanna see your guns.”

 

Caddy looked around. He couldn’t even see the school, so it should be far enough. Taking a deep breath, he let himself transform in turn. Nobody had actually seen him in costume except for Rosie and Connor - no, no making himself sad now - so he was actually kind of nervous as to what Ian would say. But, well, he was wearing what amounted to the kind of pseudo-knight costume you’d find on the love interest in a JRPG so he didn’t have any right to judge. 

 

“Uh, how’s this?”, he asked, still a bit self conscious. This costume was a lot better to fight in than it was just standing around. It was sort of chilly, so he wished he had a cloak like Ian did, or better yet, the blazer from his school uniform and some longer stockings. 

 

Ian stared at him for what felt like ages before making a noise he took to be one of approval. “It looks nice on you.”

 

Well fuck, now he was bright red and in a gaudy skirt in front of this  _ cute  _ guy! “I- I look ridiculous!”, he insisted. 

 

“We all look ridiculous, get over yourself!”, Ian shouted back. “Now, I wanna see what you can do.”

 

“Fine,” Caddy huffed. He managed to produce his guns much easier than expected. “This here is Slaughter,” he introduced. “She can rip through pretty much anything! And this baby’s Salvage, she can heal stuff I shoot with her!”

 

“Oh, wow,” Ian remarked, seemingly impressed. “Do you ever mix them up and like, shoot yourself or heal a monster?”

 

Somehow Caddy achieved an as of yet undocumented shade of embarrassed red. “Y-you can’t prove anything!”

 

“I’ll have to remember not to ask you to heal me if we ever fight together, then.” Ian smirked, and Caddy felt like he was gonna explode. How did he do this? How was he so infuriating and yet still somehow likable? 

 

“I- I’m going back,” Caddy stammered, letting his powers fall away. His uniform returned, and his arms and legs stopped shivering. 

 

“Do you know how to get back?”, Ian questioned. Caddy looked around and groaned. He, in fact, did not. He had to let Ian teleport him back to the cafeteria and walk back in. Everyone was already leaving, so he had to shove some syrupy canned peaches down his throat before he rushed back to class.

 

But, as he walked into the class building, he noticed something scrawled on his hand. “Brutalmoose”, it read, with a winky face. Surely Ian had written that at some point while he was too flustered to notice. Was that his nickname? Maybe a username on something.

 

He snorted. Ian was gonna be a real interesting person to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope everyone enjoyed their 100% organic, farm fresh caddimoose


End file.
